ORILLIA MUSEUM OF ART & HISTORY
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We all have stories to tell about our connections to the past and our interest in history. The Speakers Series at the Orillia Museum of Art & History (OMAH) which is currently suspended due to the COVID 19, provides a platform for telling these stories.
A member of the OMAH History Committee who organizes the Speaker Evenings, Fred Kallin, imparts the story of legendary hero Raoul Wallenberg, who foiled Nazi bureaucracy and saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews from deportation to the death camps in 1944.
He also tells the story of his own father, Nils Kallin, who volunteered for the Swedish Diplomatic Service in Japan before and during the Second World War, and who is credited with saving many lives in Japanese prison camps. As the son of Nils Kallin, Fred has a passion for sharing these two connected stories.
Here's the story:
In Sweden, the family of Raoul Wallenberg was akin to the Rockefeller family in New York in wealth and social prominence. Raoul spoke many languages and travelled the world. In Israel, he met Jewish people displaced by the Nuremberg laws.
In 1939, Wallenberg joined the Central European Trading Company in Stockholm, which was owned by Kálmán Lauer, a Hungarian Jew. Lauer recommended Wallenberg for a Swedish diplomatic position in Hungary to stop Nazi Adolf Eichmann, whose plan was to exterminate Hungary’s Jews.
Deportation started in May 1944, when 10,000 Jews per day were being transported to Auschwitz. Wallenberg’s unconventional and inventive methods foiled Nazi bureaucracy.
Wallenberg kept the Jews safe in special apartment buildings he had illegally declared to be Swedish territory. He issued temporary Swedish passports to prevent the deportations.
In addition, Wallenberg was able to thwart Eichmann’s plan to blow up the Jewish ghettos by threatening the German general who was to carry out the order: the general would hang for war crimes if he went ahead with the plan. This action alone saved the lives of 100,000 Jews.
Eichmann tried to have Wallenberg killed several times, but Wallenberg had a network of informants and evaded Eichmann’s plan. Eventually, Wallenberg was arrested as a spy and collaborator by the Soviets after they entered Budapest on January 17, 1945. Wallenberg was 32 years of age.
In parallel, Fred Kallin’s father, Nils, six years older than Wallenberg, was serving as a Swedish diplomat in Japan during this period.
Nils Kallin was asked to inspect civilian prison camps on behalf of The League of Nations and he demanded humane treatment for prisoners in accordance with The Geneva Convention.
This was a gutsy demand on its own, but especially since this was a big bluff. The provision to protect civilian prisoners was not added to the Geneva Convention until 1948. The Japanese did not know enough about the Geneva Convention to realize the ruse. Nils’s actions saved hundreds of lives.
Fred’s father made a daring escape from Japan in 1945, including a perilous journey on the Trans-Siberian railway to St. Petersburg, then by undercover travel to Finland.
There was one bizarre stop en route: Fred’s father briefly met Raoul Wallenberg at a small railway stop near the Ural Mountains in May 1945. They were both under guard by Soviet soldiers. It was a touch of fate that Nils Kallin met Raoul Wallenberg on this journey.
Nils Kallin returned to his family through quick thinking, sheer determination and great courage. He became Swedish Consul-General in Toronto in 1957. Raoul Wallenberg, however, remained in the clutches of the Soviets. Multiple sightings of Wallenberg in the Soviet prisons were reported throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s; to this day it is still unknown what ultimately happened to Wallenberg.
Today, thousands of ‘Wallenberg Jews’ and their descendants live in Canada, where Jan. 17 is observed as Raoul Wallenberg Day.
Fred’s story of Raoul Wallenberg is close to his heart, but this story affects all of us. Wallenberg set a standard for doing the right thing.
In recognition of his heroism, Wallenberg was declared Canada’s first honorary citizen in 1985. Today, there are many memorials to Wallenberg around the world. There is great value in learning about our past. We thank Fred Kallin for sharing this personal story.
The Orillia Museum of Art & History (OMAH) is a not-for-profit organization. OMAH board members, staff and volunteers, extend gratitude to our donors, friends, artisans, historians and the community at large for your continued and generous contributions.
We bring people together, provide a safe space for collaboration, and inspire creativity and celebrate history. Please consider becoming a part of OMAH’S community by engaging with us virtually. For general inquiries please email: [email protected].
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